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“Jeffrey Webb sentencing put off….again”

It seems as if former CONCACAF president, Jeffrey Webb, will never be sentenced after the hearing to do so was postponed for a sixth time.

Webb was scheduled to face the courts in New York on January 24 to hear his fate after pleading guilty to racketeering charges three years ago.

The former FIFA Vice President is believed to be one of the main players in years of fraud committed in the name of football’s governing body over the course of years.

While Webb’s lawyers have been the ones successfully pushing back dates, this time around, the court’s calendar is alleged to have changed, meaning the sentencing will not take place until March 7.

Webb pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud and racketeering, while FIFA’s Ethics Committee added a number of other charges, for which they have banned him for life.

Late last year, Webb sold his Georgia mansion, giving the proceeds of the sale to the United States Court as part of an asset forfeiture agreement. He also faces the possibility of deportation to the Cayman Islands where there are other charges pending.

While Webb awaits his sentencing, former Honduras Football Association president Costas Takkas was sentenced to 15 months in prison, while former president of the Peru Football Association was acquitted.

Takkas was the second former FIFA official to be sentenced, after Hector Trujillo, a former Guatemalan judge was sentenced to eight months behind bars.

There has also been the conviction of co-defendants — Juan Napout, of Paraguay, and Jose Maria Marin, of Brazil.

According to records released, Webb’s Jan. 24 sentencing date was delayed “due to a change in the court’s calendar” to March 7. This is the sixth time the sentencing has been reset.

Previous sentencing delays have been attributed to requests from Webb’s attorneys to push back the date.

Webb, a former FIFA vice president, has pleaded guilty to seven counts in a federal court indictment alleging he and dozens of other defendants conspired to rig sports marketing contracts for various world football events in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes.

Since Webb’s November 2015 guilty plea, the US Justice Department’s case against the football fraudsters has progressed significantly. A trial against three defendants ended last month with two suspects, Jose Marin and Juan Napout, being found guilty of the majority of charges filed against them. A third defendant, Manuel Burga, was not convicted of the lone count he faced because the federal jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. He was later acquitted of the charge after further jury deliberations.

As the truth of our economic predicament sets in, readers may find it useful to look back at previous budgets since 2001.

One will easily note that in a nine-year period up to 2010, national budgets increased by over 300%, and while this happened, oil and gas production declined, there were drastic declines in drilling, negligible diversification, foreign investment plunged, and the State was plagued by over-budget mega projects.

In the years 2011 to 2015, national budgets increased by approximately 26% in spite of non-boom oil and gas prices, with increases in oil and gas exploration and new investments, as well as completed and delivered large-scale projects.